The present invention relates to bearings for journaling high speed rotating shafts and particularly for a fluid dynamic spiral groove cap bearing for shafts such as the shafts for rotors, centrifugers, spindles and the like.
Aerodynamic and hydrodynamic spherical cap bearings have been employed as plain axial bearings for journaling perpendicular shafts which in operation are adapted to run at an extremely high speed of rotation. Shafts on which are mounted centrifugers, yarn winding machines, wire winding machines and similar high speed tools have been journaled in this manner. The drawback of spherical cap bearings lies in the fact that they act in only one direction and consequently with the use of only one bearing per shaft, the shaft must be vertical and have a gravitational axis which coincides with the axis of rotation. It is a further drawback that in the case vertical shafts are journaled, a neck or collar journal has to be provided in order to take up radial forces.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved axial/radial fluid dynamic cap bearing.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a spherical cap bearing which may effectively serve as an axial bearing no matter in which direction or attitude the shaft journaled therein is arranged.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide the known unilaterally acting axial bearings and in particular a spiral groove cap bearing so that forces acting along the axis from both directions can be taken by it so that the bearing is effective at both sides.
The foregoing objects, other objects, and numerous advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention itself.